News: Heathen Freehold Society

Bring the Yule-father Back to Yule

Published in The Gulf Islands Driftwood, Issue 51,Volume 43, Dec. 17, 2003

Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, holds a special significance in many religions, who each may lay special claim to some aspect of the modern wintertime holiday.

Today, with our consumer culture, the holiday season has deteriorated into a commercial and economic concern. Some, objecting to this rampant materialism, call for a return to a more spiritual basis for the holiday. Often heard is the lament that “the Christ” needs to be “put back into Christmas”. While others assert that the true origins of Yuletide custom stem from long before the coming of Christianity to Europe, and are making a call to put the original Yule-father, Odhin, “back into Yuletide”.

Many Yuletide traditions still practiced today have their beginnings in the ancient pagan religion of the Germanic tribes, one of the aboriginal peoples of pre-Christian Europe. The Germanic peoples, also known as the Teutonic or Nordic tribes, today include the English, Dutch, Danish, Germans, Norwegians, Scandinavians, Icelanders and others. The Germanic migrations occurred over almost two millennia, spreading out from central Europe and carrying the Teutonic culture, language and religion to the farthest corners of Europe, and beyond, by the year 1000.

In the year 725ce one Anglo-Saxon chronicler, the Venerable Bede, himself a Christian, wrote of Yule as it was then observed by the English pagans, "And the very night that is sacrosanct to us these people call ‘modranect’, that is, ‘the mothers' night’, a name bestowed, I suspect, on account of the ceremonies which they performed while watching this night through."

The true origin of “the Yuletide spirit” becomes clear after examining many different folk traditions from across the Nordic world. Prevalent customs, which are so integral a part of our modern experience of this holiday, have been very well preserved by the descendants of those ancient Germanic tribes, right to this very day: Traditions such as large family and community gatherings, bonfires, decorating of trees, and of course the Yule log, the hanging of wreaths, holly and mistletoe, the feasting, toasting, the wassailing songs, the giving of gifts, all night dancing, drinking, and merrymaking, only to name a few.

Yule traditions have survived despite numerous historically documented attempts by various powerful Christian groups to ban such “heathen practices” even before the first Germanic tribe, the Franks, converted to Christianity around 500ce. Heathen Kings were converted and allied with the early church, and they in turn promised to bring Christianity to their peoples. On Christmas of 597ce, for example, the English King AEthelbert of Kent staged a mass baptism of his people, the Kentings, at the hands of the missionary Augustine.

Various attempts to outlaw the old Yule traditions were made, but were only ever partially successful. Early Christians had to be content with only nominal gains. The Norwegian practice of drinking Yule-beer in honour of the old pagan Gods could not be eradicated completely, so it was made law, about the year 1000ce, that all Yule toasts had to be made in honour of Jesus and Mary.

Even as late as 1964, Norway's Christian Sobriety Council tried to ban the use of the term "Yule beer", saying it was unchristian. Commercial brewers were able to argue that Yule had nothing to do with the Bible and had much deeper roots in Norway than Christianity.

The English still prepare a special brew at Yule called the “wassail drink”. The word “wassail” comes from Old English “Wes Thu Hal”, meaning “to your health”. This Yule beverage is prepared with ale, wine and cider mixed with fruits and spices. It is the preferred to drink to “go wassailing”, which today is a form of caroling, wandering about the neighborhood singing at various houses. In heathen times, these were songs of praise and blessing not only presented to the neighbors, but also to fruit trees, especially apple trees, in hopes of their continuing fruitfulness. Songs were offered, libations were also poured over the tree’s roots and bits of toast were floated in a “wassail bowl”, which was then perched in the branches of the tree. Shades of this tradition survive throughout the Western-world in the formal “toasting” in someone’s honour or to their health.

The Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, were a major rest-stop on the long sail from Norway to Iceland a thousand years ago. In Ireland, the city of Dublin was first founded by the Norse. To them, the preparation of “Yule-Ale” was very serious business. Strict penalties were brought against those who refused to drink on Yule Night, including heavy fines.

The origins of the word “Yule” are shrouded in mystery, but most scholars agree that it it likely related to the Germanic root-word “Geol”, meaning wheel. It is thought to refer to the wheeling, or turning about, of the sun in its seasonal journey. The God Odhin, seen by many as chief among the Nordic Gods, has numerous sacred names which are poetic epitaphs, including “Julfodhr” or “Yule-father”. It is likely that Odhin himself is the original “Yule-Elf”, the Gift-giving Elf.

To the ancient Teutonic tribes, the sun was seen as a Goddess in the form a golden sow, or boar, named “Sunna”, Queen of the Light-Elves. The golden boar is closely associated with Freyr, King of the Elves, and his twin sister Freya. They are the Goddess and God of love, peace and plenty.

Pork is still a traditional Yule dish, especially in Norway, a custom which traces back to the sacred Yule Feast of the ancient Heathens. According to a thousand year old saga in Old Norse, The First Lay of Helgi Hjorvarthsson: "On Yule-eve vows were made: the sacrificial boar was led in, men laid their hands on him and swore dear oaths as they drank from the hallowed cup." The boar was then humanely slaughtered and cooked for the folk to eat at the great Yule feast.

In later times, a bread baked into the shape of a boar would take the place of the Yule boar. The history of the baking of special breads and pastries at Yule is a subject worthy of an article unto itself. Throughout the West, the practice of creating edible symbols of the holiday come down to us from pagan times.

Heathen Yule traditions from across Germanic-language speaking world, preserved generation after generation by folk who may not even be aware of the origins of the customs they observe. Why would folks supposedly converted to Christianity still preserve pagan rites, even for thousands of years? The answer, whether spoken in Dutch, English, Icelandic, German or Norwegian, would likely be the same, “Because we have always done it this way...”

And though it has been heard that “Christ” should be put back into “Christmas”, upon closer examination it would appear that he barely made it there to begin with. Save for the image of the babe in the manger, and an impressive anthology of Christmas carols, most other modern traditions surrounding the midwinter holiday are hardy survivals from the Heathen religion of the Germanic tribes.